• by Ross Fadner , November 9, 2005

For the third month in a row, magazine ad pages were down, according to October data from the Publishers Information Bureau. Magazines sold 2.1 percent fewer ads this October than last October, totaling 24,416. October's ad page erosion follows a 1.3 percent decrease in September and a 2.2 percent decrease in August.

Among individual titles, standout year-over-year increases came from Martha Stewart Living, Forbes, and In Style. However, the latest PIB contained few trends, although October was a crucial month for fashion magazines in particular, as individual title performances were all over the map in different categories.

In Style and Elle reported the most noteworthy ad page increases among fashion magazines--up 26.1 and 22.1 percent, respectively, for the month. Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and W all recorded single-digit year-over-year losses, while Marie Claire was the category's biggest loser--down 23.4 percent for the month.

Martha Stewart Living once again blew away the PIB index, growing its ad pages by 77.7 percent, as the title continued its return to prominence following last year's perjury scandal. Better Homes and Gardens was the other solid performer among house and garden titles, adding 17.3 percent more ad pages than last year. House Beautiful and House & Garden all had poor months--recording 17.4 and 13.5 percent declines, respectively.

Following its highly publicized makeover last month, TV Guide's ad pages tumbled 69.9 percent. In the previous ten months of the year, TV Guide posted 142.7 ad pages on average; in October, the month of its relaunch, the television digest posted 65.5 pages.

With the exception of Forbes, which recorded an impressive 45.3 percent increase in ad pages over last October, business/financial titles had a miserable month. Fast Company led the way with a 43.4 percent decline in ad pages (it also registered a 33.9 percent decline in September), followed by Business 2.0 Magazine, down 22.9 percent, and Business Week, 18.0 percent.

Political/literary journal The New Yorker suffered the second straight month of double-digit ad page erosion, falling 14.7 percent in October after falling 21.1 percent in September. Its competitor The Atlantic Monthly also had a poor month, reporting a 28.7 percent decline in ad pages.

Men's interest magazines didn't have a particularly compelling month either, as there were no noteworthy ad page increases. Playboy magazine had its second straight month of 20 plus percent ad page erosion, dropping 29.1 percent last month. Pages also fell 20.8 percent at GQ and 21.0 percent at Sports Illustrated.

As in other media, automotive companies bought fewer ad pages than last year, down 19.0 percent from October 2004. Nevertheless, as Ellen Oppenheim, MPA's executive vice president and chief marketing officer noted, automotive advertisers still bought the second-largest number of total pages, behind apparel and accessories. Pages from home furnishing and supplies companies were also down 8.9 percent.

Ad pages were boosted by a 22.7 percent spending increase from financial, insurance, and real estate advertisers, and a 13 percent increase from the drug and remedy category.